March Madness on The Farm!

 When the temperature starts to go up so does the work load around the farm.  We have been busy getting tobacco plants started in the greenhouse, spraying burn-down on corn fields, applying anhydrous ammonia (nitrogen fertilizer) to corn ground, preparing the corn planter to go to the field, shipping corn and soybeans and day to day maintenance of equipment.  Needless to say there's never a dull moment.  We will put our second shot of liquid nitrogen fertilizer on the wheat as soon as we finish spraying corn burn down.  The corn planter will be rolling in just a couple of weeks now.
 

Plastic is laid in the beds of the greenhouse and filled with water to float the trays on.  Our friend Andy Teasley seeds the trays for us with his automatic seeder.  Once the trays are filled with dirt (media) the seeds are planted one to each cell of the tray.  There are 288 cells in each tray.  Hopefully, we will have a good germination period and get 250 or more usable plants per tray.

The trays are then put onto the water in the beds.The water wicks up through the media (dirt) and the seed swells and germinates in about a week's time.  The greenhouse has two LP heaters that keep the temperature a balmy 60 degrees inside.

The tiny seeds give way to tiny plants.  It's hard to believe a 6 foot tall tobacco plant starts with two tiny leaves!  The 2016 tobacco is officially started!  We will care for the plants by fertilizing them, spraying them for bugs and disease and clipping them to harden and even them up for about two months until they are ready to go to the field for transplanting.

We are still keeping the roads hot delivering spring corn contracts and seed soybeans.  The trucks have to be serviced and maintained to keep the wheels turning.  Sherman Marklin is pictured greasing his truck at the shop.

Sherman Marklin and Ricky Massey are pictured above making adjustments to the closing wheels of the corn planter to ensure the planter unit works like it's supposed to.  A corn planter has many points to fine tune to get the best possible stand when we put the seed in the ground.  Jake Mitchell pictured below adjusting a marker for corn.  It's better to spend time in the shop on a wet day getting ready than wasting time in the field during good weather getting everything dialed in on the planting equipment.  #plant16 is coming on quick.  We will be planting corn in just a couple of weeks now!     

We apply anhydrous ammonia as nitrogen for our corn.  Corn yield is most directly related to nitrogen than any other crop input.  We apply the anhydrous with a no-till applicator designed to inject the nitrogen into the ground with as little disruption to the top soil as possible to keep erosion to a minimum.  It will take a couple of weeks for the ammonia to convert into nitrate form that the corn can use for food.  By then the corn will be growing and ready to eat the nitrogen we left there for it.